Maybe Kobe Bryant can provide some answers whenever he decides to tweet gain, but with the Black Mamba holed up somewhere in Newport Beach and silenced by his self-imposed gag order, the Lakers were on their own Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs, literally and figuratively.

Game 2 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series against the Spurs bore little resemblance to Game 1, but the outcome was a spitting image in the Lakers' 102-91 loss.

And it leaves the Lakers in a quandary much more complicated than just the 0-2 hole they find themselves in as they limp home to Los Angeles.

They hobbled onto their charter flight Wednesday unsure who their biggest foe is: The Spurs, or an unforgiving run of luck that continues to wreak havoc on their minds and body.

Not having Bryant was bad enough against the deep, talented Spurs.

But then Jodie Meeks went down in Game 1 with an ankle sprain, Steve Blake suffered a strained hamstring Wednesday and Steve Nash was so banged up after playing Games 1 and 2 he'll undergo another epidural Friday.

"It hurts to see guys go down," Lakers center Dwight Howard conceded.

And the way they were hobbling around the locker room, you wonder if they'll have enough players to field a full team in Game 3.

"It feels that way," Nash said. "I don't want to jump the gun because you never know how we respond to treatments and stuff on Friday. It certainly hasn't been good and hasn't bode well for us with the way things have worked out for us."

Is anyone healthy enough to slow down Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker and the runaway train the supposedly vulnerable Spurs looked like as they flattened the Lakers the first two games?

"We either overcome it or go home," Howard said. "And we don't want to go home."

They may not have much choice.

It's not like the Lakers played bad Wednesday.

And it's not like they didn't make some positive adjustments between Games 1 and 2.

They just couldn't make the biggest tweak of all - flip the final score in their favor.